Forever Burn

by Trinity Lemm

  I beamed. “Tatum Everley.”

  The woman wrote my name down on a visitation sticker and handed it to me. I stuck it onto the left side of my shirt, beginning to become impatient to see Axe. She passed me a clipboard with a stack of papers on it.

  Paperwork. Great.

  “You can sit right over there to fill out these papers.”

  I smiled at her as I took them, even though no part of me was smiling on the inside. I sighed as I sat down, running my fingers through the thick stack of papers. My eyes skimmed through the words on each page, fully aware that I should’ve been reading each word carefully, but not caring. I scribbled my initials on the lines and ten minutes later, I brought the papers back to her.

  “Thanks, honey. An officer will be out here in just a minute to take you back there.”

  “Thanks,” I nodded to her, sitting back down in the chairs that were near the entrance. I bobbed my knees up and down, impatience and anxiety taking over.

  “Hello, ma’am,” an officer with short, brown hair said as he approached. “You can follow me.”

  I took a deep breath as I stood. The officer walked me into a room with concrete walls on three sides. On the last wall, there was a set of glass windows. Black sectors separated each window from the next, creating a small amount of privacy for each window. I cluelessly glanced over at the officer, unsure of which window to sit at.

  “You can sit wherever,” he said.

  I slowly chose one towards the middle, nervously waiting as the officer stayed on the other side of the room, monitoring.

  I watched through the glass as another officer, this one blonde, opened a door on the other side. Axe walked through it, dressed in an orange jumpsuit with his hands handcuffed. The officer held Axe’s forearm, leading him over to my window.

  It was hard to see him that way. He was normally so carefree, normally so independent. But now, everything was determined for him.

  Axe’s face lit up when he saw me, barely waiting for the officer to take off his cuffs in order to sit down. The bags under his eyes caught my attention. He hadn’t slept. He was probably up all night, uncomfortable and upset as he tossed and turned in a cold and crummy jail cell. It broke my heart.

  The blonde officer stepped back, positioning himself near the door that he had brought Axel through, giving us a little bit of space.

  He picked up the black phone on the wall and I followed his lead, holding the piece of plastic up to my ear.

  “I was hoping it would be you,” he said, smiling through the glass. He had just spent the night in prison, yet for some odd reason, his smile was just as bright as I had ever seen it.

  I laughed once at his words, a small piece of my heart becoming filled, but tears forming at the same time. I wished I could touch him. Kiss him. Feel his warm and strong arms around me.

  “Axe…”

  “Baby, don’t,” he said, cutting me off. “This isn’t your fault. Stop thinking that it is.”

  “But, it is. I’m so sorry,” I responded, looking down.

  “No, it’s not,” he paused as a single tear fell down my cheek. My guilt was inevitable, undeniable. “Please don’t cry,” his gentle, raspy voice begged.

  I shut my eyes for a second, reminding myself that this may be the only time I got to see Axe for a while, so I should be less sappy. At least for his sake if that’s what he wanted.

  I gave a tiny nod. “Okay.”

  “Tate, listen to me very carefully, okay?”

  I looked up at him, curious as to what he was about to say. My eyes studied him as he spoke, dreading the fact that there was glass between us.

  “Lucas will probably be in the hospital for only a few more days or so and Jason is God knows fuckin’ where,” his eyes drilled into mine as he emphasized his words. “So, can you do something for me, please?”

  “Anything.”

  “Please don’t go anywhere other than class and your dorm until I get out. I don’t want anyone hurting you again. If anything, and I mean anything at all happens to you, I will never forgive myself.”

  I nodded, taking in every word, but confused as to how he was so worried about me when he was the one that was currently sitting in jail.

  “If you need to go to the store or anything, have Ash go with you. He’s the only one I trust to watch over you while I can’t be there,” Axe added.

  “Okay.” I bit my lip as I swallowed the lump in my throat. “How long do you think it’ll be?”

  Axe sighed. “Hopefully not long.”

  I took another look at him, guilt still engulfing me. I wanted him out of there. He didn’t deserve to be sitting behind glass right now. He didn’t deserve to be dragged around in handcuffs or thrown into a jail cell. He deserved the world. And if I could trade places with him, I would do it in a heartbeat.

  “So, they really put you in a jumpsuit that fast, huh?” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Well, since it’s not my first offense, they got me in right away.”

  “Orange,” I wrinkled my nose.

  “Yeah, it’s definitely not my color,” he laughed.

  “Tatum? Everley, right?” a voice called from behind me. I turned, still holding the phone up to my ear. Axel’s uncle was dressed in uniform as he stood near the door, patiently waiting for me to respond.

  “Yeah,” I confirmed.

  He cocked his head to the side. “Can you come with me, please?”

  I turned back to Axe. His eyes were glaring his uncle down, disappointed that our talk was about to be cut short.

  “I love you. I’m going to get you out of here, okay? I promise,” I said, my voice shaking.

  Axe’s beautiful eyes softened. “I love you more than anything. And I hope you know I don’t regret what I did to protect you. I would do it a million times if I had to.”

  My lip quivered, distress and remorse swallowing me. I placed my hand on the glass, wishing I could touch him. He brought his hand up to the glass, matching mine, eyes staying on me.

  He hung the phone back up on the wall and again, I followed, waiting to get up until he did.

  ‘I love you,’ he mouthed as he stood. I watched as the blonde officer put the handcuffs back onto Axe and pulled him out of the room.

  Another tear escaped out of the corner of my eye, but I caught it before it got too far. I turned as I stood, unprepared for whatever his uncle was about to do, but I didn’t even care at this point. He could’ve arrested me too, right here, right now, and I would’ve have given a single fuck. If Axe was stuck in jail, then I deserved to be too.

  I followed Uncle Jesse down a long corridor. He opened a door on the left, then signaled for me to go inside. There was only one small light on in the center of the room above a table. The rest of the room was dark. And empty.

  An interrogation room. Fantastic.

  “Go ahead and take a seat, Ms. Everely.”

  I nervously sat down, still overwhelmed by everything that I was feeling from seeing Axe. Uncle Jesse sat across from me, resting his hands on the table.

  “I’m glad you came in. I was about to call to ask you to come in, actually, so this worked out nicely. So,” he paused, “I think we have the same goal, which is to help Axe.”

  “Can’t you get him out of there?” I nervously begged, wondering if there was anything he could do to free his suffering nephew.

  “Well, no. Not directly. That’s why I need your help.”

  “I’ll do anything.”

  “So, here’s the deal. Due to the severity of the assault and the fact that this isn’t Axel’s first offense, his bail is fairly high. And even if you got the money to pay it, it doesn’t mean that the charges get dropped. It would only bail him out until his court date.”

  “Okay…” I said, trying to take in what he was saying. “So, then what can we do?”

  “Well, for starters, I’m gonna need a statement from you about everything that happened. Are you okay with that?”

&nbs
p; “Absolutely,” I nodded.

  “Perfect,” he said, taking out a small tape recorder and hitting the button. “Go ahead. From the beginning.”

  I took a deep breath and explained everything, from the moment Axel left to go to his chemistry lab, to the moment he got arrested. I told him every detail that I remembered, trying my hardest to help out as much as possible. I didn’t care what Uncle Jesse needed me to do, as long as it was contributing to getting Axe out.

  “Wait,” he furrowed his brows, “you said he attacked you in the parking lot, correct?”

  “Yes. Does that make a difference?”

  “Well, we can check and see if the apartment complex has cameras set up outside. If they do, then there very well might be footage of him attacking you and if that’s the case, then that might be the key to setting Axe free.”

  “How exactly will that help, though? Won’t you just be able to see the footage of Axe fighting Lucas too, then?”

  “Well, it’s already very clear that Axel attacked Lucas, because he has the injuries to prove it. So, the plan is to prove that Lucas attacked you. That way, when Lucas goes to press charges against Axe, you will be able to press charges against Lucas.”

  I nodded, finally understanding what his plan was. “How long do you think it’ll take?” I asked, picking at my fingernails under the table. I wanted Axe out now. At this point, he had been in jail for less than a day and that was already too long.

  “Not sure. I’m going to try to work as quickly as possible.”

  “Okay… Is there anything else that I can do to help?”

  He raised an eyebrow in thought. “Uh, actually yes. I need you to bring in that shirt that Lucas ripped.”

  “I can do that,” I agreed, knowing that I would go to the apartment directly after and bring the shirt back to Uncle Jesse immediately.

  “You didn’t wash it or anything, right?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, good. Don’t. If there’s any little bit of Lucas’s DNA on there, it will help build the case even more.”

  He was smart. He clearly knew what he was doing. I wondered how many other times this had happened, where he had to come up with and execute a plan in order to get Axe out. But knowing how many other times this happened wasn’t going to get me any step closer to freeing Axe. I thought about going to the hospital that Lucas was at and trying to talk him into dropping the charges, but I promised Axe that I wouldn’t go anywhere other than class and my dorm. And he most definitely would not want me around Lucas anyways.

  “Do you have any injuries or anything from the attack?” Uncle Jesse asked.

  I slowly brought my fingertips to my wrists, gently pressing down on my bruises. I winced at the feeling.

  I rolled my sleeves up and brought my hands above the table, showing off two gnarly bruises where Lucas had been gripping the life out of me. I had almost forgotten that the bruises were even there, too occupied by what was happening with Axe to even remember my own problems.

  He raised his eyebrows as he studied the bruises, impressed by how dark they had managed to become. “Do you mind if I photograph those?”

  I shook my head. “Not at all. Do whatever you have to do.”

  He left the room for a moment and returned with a camera. He lightly moved my wrists in different directions, taking photos at every angle.

  “I’ll be in touch with you,” Uncle Jesse said, dismissing me out of the room.

  Afterwards, I went home and brought the ripped shirt back as quickly as possible. I still had one class left for the day, but I didn’t bother going.

  My thoughts and guilt were consuming me whole. I wasn’t going to have any motivation to do anything until Axe was freed. The system was tricky, but I prayed that Uncle Jesse’s plan would work, and that it would work quickly.

  I walked down the hall towards my dorm room, unprepared to deal with Penelope. I had no idea if she knew what happened or not, no idea if she had talked to or had visited Lucas in the hospital. We hadn’t spoken in days, and at this point, I didn’t want to. At all. The only thing on my mind was Axel. My guilt and stress were at record highs, and I swore to God that if Penelope said any little thing that would tick me off, I was not going to hold in my rage. More importantly, if she said anything negative about Axe, the hurricane would be even worse.

  When I opened the door, she wasn’t there. I wasn’t surprised and I most definitely wasn’t disappointed either. I climbed into bed and laid there for a few minutes, feeling empty. Laying there made me think about how I didn’t want to go another night without him sleeping next to me. I wondered how many nights I would have to go without him. I prayed that it wasn’t long, prayed that the plan wouldn’t fail, prayed that he wouldn’t be convicted and be locked up for years.

  I had already lost him before. I couldn’t do it again.

  I sat up when I heard the door open, relieved when I saw Ash and Gianna walk through instead of Penelope.

  “Hey,” Gi said, delicately.

  “Aye, let’s go,” Ash said, cocking his head.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Well, I got very strict directions from my uncle that came directly from Axe, stating that I need to go get you a new phone,” he explained, shoving his hands in his pockets.

  A light smile came across my face. I brought my hand up to my lips, feeling gratified knowing that this demand came specifically from Axe. It amazed me how even though he was in jail, he was still somehow finding a way to take care of me.

  I sat in the back of Ash’s car, staring silently out the window. I wasn’t in the mood to talk, wasn’t in the mood to do anything, really.

  “Tate,” Gi gently said from the passenger seat, “how are you feeling?”

  I hadn’t even told anyone what happened. For starters, I didn’t have a phone to do so. And second, I didn’t want to. My number one priority was to get Axe out, not waste time telling people what happened. On top of that, I didn’t want anyone to see Axe differently. Whether he had destroyed Lucas’s face or not, he was still a good person. My perspective of him wasn’t going to change, regardless of what anyone else thought.

  I didn’t answer Gianna, figuring that my silence would give her a pretty good idea of how I felt. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Gi and Ash traded glances.

  I picked out a new phone, trying to choose the least expensive one that they had, aware that Axel would be paying for it. He spoiled me too much as it was, let alone from jail. I barely spoke the entire time, too worried about Axe to even think of anything else.

  I twisted my necklace around in my fingers as I walked back into my room, stopping at the sight of Penelope in tears on the futon. Her eyes traveled across the ground and up to me.

  I wanted to know why she was crying, but I didn’t want to be the first one to speak. I slowly let the door shut behind me, awkwardly entering the room.

  “Hey,” she sniffled.

  I lightly raised my eyebrows as I kicked off my shoes. “Hey,” I said passively.

  She covered her eyes for a few seconds before speaking again. “I, uh, went to the hospital to see Lucas.”

  I paused, unsure of what Lucas had said to her. That is, if he could even speak at the moment. I had no idea how bad his injuries currently were.

  “Okay… And?”

  “Well I had to wait two hours for him to wake up, but once he did, he told me,” she cried.

  My heart was beating fast. I wasn’t sure if he told her what truly happened, or if he had told her his own version of the story.

  “What’d he tell you?”

  “He admitted that he’s been trying to get with you and that he attacked you.”

  “Oh.”

  “So, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

  I took a deep breath, almost relieved at her words. I was expecting some elaborate lie, some bullshit reason for why Axel would beat the shit out of him.

  Something clicked in my head. Something that might work
faster than waiting for DNA results and camera footage.

  I knew I should be comforting Penelope. It was obvious that they had broken up due to the truth, but I had someone else as my top priority.

  “Do you think you could get him to admit it again?”

  “What?”

  “Could you get him to admit it again?”

  She pulled her blanket up, dropping another tear-soaked tissue next to her. “I’m not sure. Why?”

  “I need to get Axel out of jail. Would you be willing to help me?”

  Penelope looked down for a second in thought, her wet eyes finally starting to dry. She glanced back up at me. “Absolutely.”

  I drove Penelope and I back to the police station to propose my idea to Uncle Jesse. When we walked in, the same woman was at the front desk as before. Her face lit up when she saw me.

  “Back already?” she joked.

  I gave a shy smile, pleased by her kindness. “Most definitely,” I joked back, walking up to the desk. Penelope stood behind me, waiting patiently for whatever we needed her to do.

  “What can I help you with, sweetheart?”

  “We need to speak to the sheriff, please.”

  “Got it,” she said. “I’ll get him right away for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “And hey,” she whispered, “technically, no one is allowed to visit more than twice a week, but I’ll make an exception for you.”

  “Thank you so much,” I expressed. I wasn’t sure if maybe she knew Axe from previous arrests, which was why she felt the need to let me break the rules to visit more often, or if it was just her noticing how broken I currently was.

  Within a few minutes, Uncle Jesse appeared. He nodded to me once. “How can I help you, Tatum?”

  I glanced at Penelope for a second, swallowing my nerves. I had no idea if he would approve of my theory or not, but it was worth a shot.

  “I, um, think I have an idea for how to get Axe out faster.”

  “Okay,” he nodded, “shoot.”

  “Well, you said we first have to prove that Lucas attacked me, right?”